There are a lot of rules for doing bondage, but here are 6 main Rules of Bondage that should never be broken!

1. Communication: The most important rule of all. Always keep communication open! Make sure you always know what is going on with your Victim. If you do not communicate you will for sure have problems. Every tie is different and works different on every victim so communication is key to learn and progress with your bondage play!

2. ALWAYS have a pair (as in two) of EMT shears with you at all times. They only cost between $3-$7 and easy to find, I get mine from rainbowrope.com. You can get EMT shears from medical stores or pharmacies, Rope or SHARP shears from mountain climbing supply or hardware stores. Also Hook knives are great for cutting rope and slicing off mummification materials. Never do any kind of bondage without having safety equipment on you. It can save a life!

3. NEVER put Rope going across the front of the neck. And personally I never put it going across the beck of the neck either. Also always make sure the rope is not able to slide up from the chest or back because it will end the neck. If rope ends up putting pressure against the neck, it can cause serious problems. The arteries can be constructed and cut off oxygen to the brain. The larynx can be crushed causing serious breathing problems. And rope on the back of the next can put unwanted pressure on the vertebras in the spin.

4. Never cover both the mouth and nose at the same time (mainly for mummification or head bondage).

5. NEVER leave someone who is in bondage alone.

( STATs: Jay Wiseman has collected stories for years and analyzes them. For example, he has investigated bondage-related fatalities (not just someone coincidentally having a heart attack while tied up, but deaths resulting from the bondage) and discovered that in 99.9% of the cases, the tied person was alone when they died. Either because they were doing self-bondage, or because the top left the room. So one of the first rules is: Never leave your partner unattended! Many other serious injuries result from falls, either because suspension equipment failed, or the tied person was standing or walking and lost their balance)

6. Patience. Remember to keep your kool. Either if it is learning what works with tying up your victim and figuring out what works best. It possible the rearranging rope as little as a ¼' can turn hell into heaven with a tie. Or if there is an emergency. Always keep you head and assess the situation. If there is a problem, can you just untie them? Or should you cut them out?

GENERAL ROPE SAFETY:
Now this is some common problems (but not all the possible problems) that come along with rope bondage, or bondage in general. I am not a doctor,or health expert, so if you need more more insight or info, please consult a health professional.

BLOOD CIRCULATION
The most common problems with rope bondage is blood circulation problems. This most likely happens with the wrists, upper arms (you can feel a divot in the muscles on the outer upper arm) and ankles. Rope can easily cut off the blood supply to the hands and feet by pinching the veins / arteries in the wrist and ankle area. At first, this will make the finger or toes start to tingle and feel like tons of little needle pricks. This tells the person that blood is being cut off to the area. If not relieved, the area will go numb. Now damage is not actually being done at this point, it will take at least an hour (or several) for damage to actually happen, so do not freak out when this happens. As long as a person can move their fingers and toes freely they should be fine.

If there is a circulation problem just fix what is causing it, rearrange the rope or change the position of the limb. Some rope victims even like having numb limbs while bound so for them it is not a problem at all. Mostly what happens when blood circulation is cut off, is less oxygen is being given to the cells, and less waste (nitrogen) is being removed from the cells. But when circulation is regained, things will turn back to normal shortly.

NERVE COMPRESSION
Now nerve compression is a lot more serious issue then blood circulation problems. Nerve compression can happen faster then circulation problems, and can leave semi-permanently or even permanent damage. This is caused by the rope compressing or crushing the nerves that are between a bone and close to the surface of the skin. This happens most commonly in the upper arms just below the shoulders, wrists and ankles … but can happen anywhere and is totally different with every victim.

The feeling from nerve compression will very from it feeling similar to going numb from circulation problems BUT will NOT be able to move their hands or feet, too a serious drilling pain (and not a good pain)! Your victim will know if they are feeling a nerve crushing pain, but if they are going numb, the best thing to do is make sure they can move the hands and feet on there own occasionally. If they can no do that, there is a problem and remove them from the rope immediately.

(STATs: Jay Wiseman says he could find almost no examples of permanent injury resulting from circulation restriction. The rules about testing hands for color or temperature are worthless. He says the only real sign of rope being too tight is pain. You can have numb hands for a long time with no problem resulting. .

Most people don't like the feeling of numb hands and it can bring a bottom out of headspace. So it's good to be able to spot them. I also find that if the bottom is playing with their fingers, that's typically a signal that they're going numb. There are two ways to get a numb limb: compress a nerve or compress an artery. It appears that cutting off the blood supply to a *nerve* isn't harmful unless it is done repeatedly.

A very interesting article I stumbled upon at MadSci.org states that about 15 minutes after a nerve is compressed, the skin begins to feel numb. Fifteen minutes later, temporary paralysis can set in which will abate after about a minute once the blood supply is restored to the nerve. It's only 40 minutes or more after the nerve has been compressed (25 minutes or more after the skin feels numb) that recovery time can extend into hours, days, and weeks. These are, apparently, called "Palsies." These, too, recover, but only after extended healing times. I have suffered from "Handlebar Palsy" which occured after too many hours on a bike (I could no longer do the Vulcan "Live long and prosper" sign) and it took about a week to heal after I stopped riding. So there's PLENTY of time to react to a numb limb if the cause is a compressed nerve. And the consequences of dawdling simply extend the healing time from a few minutes to a number of days (not a good way to keep a sub around, by the way).

If the cause is a compressed *artery*, then things get a little more serious if only because it takes more pressure to overcome the 100 mm-Hg (100 Torr or 2 psi) blood pressure than it does to compress the capillaries surrounding a nerve. I don't know what damage ischemia (loss of blood supply) can do to muscles and tissue over the period of 30 minutes, so I'll refrain from commenting further. I am reminded by an MD friend of mine that the damage cannot be TOO great: People have sewn limbs back on and had them work.... I guess the upshot of this long-winded (and very geeky) reply is that most of us do not like numb limbs and they feel bad; but they're not quite as dangerous as they seem. This doesn't obviate the need for a good bondage top to recognize and correct the problem, however. )

MEDICAL HISTORY and INJURIES:
You want to know about your victim's medical history and injuries. For example If someone is diabetic, you want to keep their insulin and / or orange juice around to help control their sugar level. It also common for people to have shoulder and knee injuries, so you have to plan to keep pressure off those joints or any other injuries the victim may have.

Rope Removal:
Rope Burn, Joint Hardening and Aftercare
When removing rope (and putting on rope), you have to watch out for rope burn. Rope burn is caused by friction of the surface of the rope against the skin. The faster you pull rope, the more chance rope burn will occur. This is not necessarily a bad thing though, some rope victims love rope burn! But if you don't want to cause rope burn, you just have to pull the rope through slower. Also some rope materials cause rope burn faster then others. Remember taking rope of can be as sensual as putting it on!

Now there are 2 things you should do when removing rope from your victim. One, if they are in a position for a long period of time (such as a hog-tie for 4 hours), the joints will stiffen and you will have to let them move slowly into a relaxed position. If you try to move the joints fast, it will hurt a lot. You will have to help support their legs/arms and then lower them slowly at their own pace.

Second, when you remove rope from the skin, you will see rope marks. Personally I consider this one of the more lovely elements of rope bondage! There are 2 things you can do: Just leave them alone, and let the blood naturally flow back to the surface of the skin, Or you can do a fast and heavy massage on those areas to get the blood flowing back to the surface and most likely the rope victim will consider it the best massage they ever got! But both are fine, depending on your scene and preference of your play partner.

Other After Care
When taken you victim out of ropes, most likely they will not be able to keep balance, especially if they were in sub space, or exhausted and weak from the bondage.

You victim will possible be cold, so keep a blanket around to put on them to warm them up.

Most likely your victim will need water, sugar or possibly food to replenish!